Electron discharge device



NOV 24, 1953 C. F WEST ELECTRON DISCHARGE DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed March 16, 1950 bx QQUM. D nu h /m/EA/Ta@ CNH/9155 KWEST By 19770K [Y NOV 24, 1953 C, F, WEST 2,660,669

ELECTRON DISCHARGE DEVICE Filed March 16, 195o 2 sheets-sheet 2 c/mafs f W65? Patented Nov. 24, 1953 UNHTED STATES PATENT OFFICE ELECTRON DISCHARGE DEVICE Application March 16, 1950, Serial No. 150,040

(Cl. Z50-27) 9 Claims.

This invention relates to information storage tubes, and more particularly to methods and means whereby information stored in memory tubes may be read out therefrom accurately and Without dissipation of the stored information.

In memory tubes of the type which may be, for example, for computer information storage purposes, informational charges are stored on an insulating plate. Previous systems for reading said informational charges involved varying of the charges by means of an electron beam impinging thereon. After reading of the charge, said charge may be returned to its original stable position by a holding type electron beam. However, variation of the charge tends to spread said charge and, in addition, the requisite shifting of the potential between the cathode which supplies the reading beam and the storage surface introduces spurious signals into the output even when eXtreme care is taken in design of the circuitry involved.

This invention discloses a novel method of reading the stored informational charges wherein the reading beam is deected cyclically across an informational charge at a high repetition rate, for example, several megacycles. Since charges may be stored on an insulating storage plate at one of two stable charge potentials with respect to a given reference, for example, the cathode of the reading gun, if the entire storage plate be maintained at cathode potential, then output signals will occur only for the stable condition which is positive with respect to the cathode and no output signals will be obtained for charges which are at the cathode potential. Since both charge potentials are stable with respect to the cathode of the reading gun, impingement on an electron stream from the reading gun on the storage surface at any point thereof Will produce no change in magnitude or position of charges stored on the insulating storage surface.

Briefly, the mechanism of reading is as follows. Informational charge areas which are at cathode potential are of the same potential as the surrounding areas of the storage surface, and, therefore, an electron beam scanning from the surrounding area across the informational charge area will produce no change in the number of electrons reflected to adjacent conducting electrodes. However, if an informational charge storage area has a charge position thereon which is positive with respect to the surrounding area of the storage surface, electrons will impinge thereon causing emission of secondary electrons therefrom. The secondarily emitted electrons will be substantially entirely picked up by adjacent electrodes, while electrons which are directed at the area of the storage surface adjacent the informational charge area being at cathode potential will not have electrons from the reading gun impinge thereon. Rather, the electrons directed to said surrounding areas will be reflected thereby prior to striking said storage surface.

It has been found that many of these reflected electrons will be attracted back through the adjacent conducting electrodes and collected by other higher potential electrodes in the device. Thus, it may be seen that the number of electrons coilected by the electrodes adjacent the storage surface will be greater when the electron beam is directed toward an informational charge storage area which is positive with respect to the cathode than when said electron beam is directed toward surrounding areas which are at cathode potential. Thus, scanning of the electron beam across an informational charge area which is positive with respect to the cathode and into the surrounding area which is at cathode potential and back again Will produce a variation of the electron current in the adjacent electrodes which will bear a harmonic relationship to the scanning frequency of the electron beam.

This invention further discloses means, whereby cross modulation between the scanning deilection voltage applied to the beam deflection system and the output from the adjacent electrodes may be eliminated. This is accomplished by making the output circuit connected to the adjacent electrodes non-responsive to the scanning frequency. In particular, the output circuit may be tuned to a harmonic of the scanning frequency, for example, the second harmonic thereof.

Other and further advantages of this invention will become apparent as the description thereof progresses, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 illustrates a partially broken away, longitudinal, cross-sectional View of a memory tube in a functional block diagram of circuits utilizing said memory tube in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 illustrates a graph demonstrating a method of storing informational charges on the storage surface, holding said charges on said storage surface, and reading said charges from said storage surface;

Fig. 3 illustrates a magnified View of the stor- 3 age surface, and adjacent electrodes demonstrating the diierence in electron paths for positive and negative informational charge potentials on said storage surface; and

Fig. 4 illustrates a portion of said storage surface showing one method of spacing the informational charge areas on the storage surface.

Referring now to Fig. 1, there is shown an electron discharge device comprising an evacuated envelope i having therein, adjacent one end thereof, a storage plate I I which may he, for example, a hat piece of glass, and which, if desired, may be coated with a substance having the desirable secondary emission characteristics, such as calcium tungstate.

Storage surface H is supported, for example, at the edges thereof by a pair of metal rings I2 and I3 which firmly grip plate Il and are held together by any desired means, such as Welding. Ring I2 which is positioned on the side of plate II away from the adjacent end of the tube has attached thereto a metal screen I4 which may be, for example, 'of stainless steel having very small meshsize, for example, 20'()` by 200 meshes per inch. The ring I3 which is Nbetween the storage surface II and the adjacentend of envelope Il) may have, if desired, a mesh screen I5 at` tached thereto similar to mesh screen 'I4, thereby completely enclosing storage member II in a conducting shield which may be termed a Faraday cage. Positioned adjacent ring I2 is a conducting ring i6 which is supported therefrom by wire support elements II, said rings I2 and I6 being insulated, for example, by glass beads 'I8 positioned between wire support elements Il. Ring 'IE has a wire mesh screen I9 attached thereto adjacent 'mesh screen I4 and on the opposite side thereof from storage plate I I.

The entire assembly of elements I-I through I9 is supported by lead-in conductors v2G and 2l, respectively, conductor 2l being conductively at tache'd'to rings I 2 and 'I`3, and conductor 2! being conductively attached to ring I6. Conductor 2i) is connected through an R. F. load, for example, a` choke 22 'to a source of potential, for example, 500 volts. Lead-in 2| is connected through a tank 'circuit comprising an inductance 2'3, a capacitance 24 and 'a resistance '25, all in parallel to'asource of potential of, for example, plus l800 volts. The output is taken from across the tank circuit and 'may be "fed, for example, to an amplifier 2S, "and thence to the utilization circuit, for example, computer circuits.

n Positionedin envelope I0 are 'two electron guns 21 and 210; 'which 'are aimed to direct electron beams against insulating storage member II. The 'electron gun 2l comprises a cathode 223, a control grid 29, a focusing anode 43 0, 'an accelerating ano'de 3|, horizontal de''ection plates 32 and vertical deflection plates 33. These electrodes may be all of the standard construction well known in the cathode ray tube art. Electrodes 28and 29, 35 and 3'I have suitable potentials applied thereto from a negative high voltage power supply 34, the grid 29 'having 'a 'load Vresistor '35 interposed between said grid and power supply 34.v The'gun 27 is turned on by a positive pulse applied to grid 29 across resistor 155 from a pulse generator 3E which is ltriggered by an input pulse whenever it is desired that an electron beam emit from gun "2.1. One of the horizontal de- 'ection plates `32 is connected through an oscillato'r'31 having, for example, a Vfrequency of seven megacycles. 'The other of the deflection plates 312 is connected to the-positioning sweep circuits 38. Vertical deflection plates 33 are also con# nected to sweep circuits 38. These sweep circuits may be olf the standard type which are fed voltage waves from the computer to position the beam from gun 2! which is adjusted to fine definition on any desired area of the screen Il. The amplitude of the seven megacycle oscillations fed to the horizontal deection system 32 is suiiicient to cause a deflection of the beam. for example, on the order of two to four times the beam diameter. Oscillator 3l may be energized as desired by input signals from a computer System.

Gun 27a comprises a cathode 39, a focusing electrode 49 and an accelerating electrode 4I. These electrodes are :fed from a power supply 42 whose potentials are such that gun 28 is focused to spray an even stream of electrons over the entire surface of storage area II which is presented to gun 21a.

Referring now to Fig. 2, there will be described one method of operation of the system shown in Fig. l. In this description, it is assumed that the potential of the Faraday cage remains substantially constant, for example, at 400 volts, as is illustrated by point 43. In the graph of Fig. 2, voltage is plotted along the ordinate, and target current is plotted along the abscissa. With the cathode 28 positioned negative with respect to point 43, for example, at zero potential, as shown by point 44, curve 45 illustrates target current :for Various potential differences between cathode 39 and an area of target I I. When the area of target II is at the potential of cathode 39, no secondary electrons will be emitted from the target II, and all incident electrons are reiiected therefrom, and, therefore., target current is zero, as indicated at point 44. As the area of :target lI is raised to a more positive potential than cathode '39, electrons strike the target IfI and a lesser number are emitted therefrom by secondary emission, and the net current onto target Il .becomes negative. Increase of the potential o'f the area of target II still vfurther causes the number of electrons emitted from target 'I'I to exceed the number of electrons impinging thereon, and curve 45 crosses the zero target current line at apoint indicated at 46 after which the net current onto member I'I becomes positive. Further increase of the area potential oi' 'target I vI produces, at a voltage which is substantially equal to the voltage of the Faraday cage, a point where electrons emitted by secondary emission which were previously attracted back 'to target I'i are n'ow attracted to the Faraday cage, 4such that the net current onto .target I`I again becomes zero,`as shown by point 43.

Since target 'I`I is an insulator, a deficiency of secondary electrons escaping 'from an area of target `II over the number of electrons impinging thereon, as shown bythe section of the curve 45between points 134 and 46, will cause the charge on the storage surface to become more negative until point '4'4 is reached, While, if an eX- rcess of secondary .emission electrons is present, the charge becomes more positive until lpoint 43 is reached. Thus, it may be seen that twostable potentials, 'as illustrated by points '44 and 43, may occur on discrete .areas of vtarget surface II, and, once -an area of target 4II Yhas been charged to one of points 44 or 43, it will remain .there during the action of holding vgun 21a.

The action of gun 21a will behave -similarto gun 21 Yfor a similar potential difference between the Faraday cage yand the cathode V39 thereof.

For this potential, the curve of secondary emission vs. voltage for gun 21 will coincide with curve 45 of gun 21a. However, since the beam of gun 2l is concentrated on a small area which is determined by the voltage from sweep circuits 38, the charging action of gun 2 will dominate the action of gun 2id in said area. Therefore, the holding gun Zia may remain energized at all times without interfering with the operation of gun 2l. Gun 2i' is used for both writing the information on the target electrode Il and reading the information therefrom. in order to store informational charges on screen ll which have a positive charge potential with respect to the cathode 39 of holding gun 21a, the cathode 28 of gun 2 is driven negative, for example, in response to input pulses from the computer to voltage supply 3d by an amount greater than Vo, Where Vo is designated as the voltage between the points di and 45 of curve 45. This creates a new curve il?, the negative half of which conforms exactly with the negative half of curve d5, but which is displaced therefrom by a voltage somewhat greater than Vo. Curve il then crosses the zero current axis at a point 48 which is somewhat more negative than point IE5, and again crosses the zero axis at a point which is negative with respect to point il by an amount somewhat greater than V0, as shown by numeral i9. After crossing the axis at point d8 and progressing in a positive direction, curve 4l eventually coincides with curve d5 and returns to the zero axis at substantially the Faraday cage potential, as shown by point Since curve 47 of gun 2 will dominate the curve of holding gun Zia, the area upon which the beam from gun 2l impinges will always fall within the positive current region of curve lill, and, therefore, this area will be driven to the potential of point t3 when grid 29 is driven sufficiently positive to cause a beam to emit from gun 2l.

If it is desired to store an informational charge on target li having the same potential as that of cathode 39, the cathode 2S of gun 2 is positioned positive with respect to point lli by an amount somewhat less than Vo, as shown by point 5d.

The voltage of the Faraday cage is such that the negative half of the curve 5! which is similar to the negative halves of curves l? and e5 would cross the zero current axis at a potential greater than the Faraday cage voltage, as shown by point 52. Since any point on target il will be below the potential of point 52, triggering of grid 29 will cause the area upon which the beam from gun 2l! impinges to delevop a charge suf- -cient to bring that area to a potential coincident with point 5i). Cessation of the action of gun 21 by driving grid 2S negative will then cause that area to charge along curve i5 under holding gun action to point le since point 59 lies within the negative current range of holding gun curve 115.

"I'hus, it may be seen that by varying the potential between cathode 28 and Faraday cage either positive or negative, informational charges may be stored on target H. If it is assumed that the holding gun originally held the target at the cathode potential of the holding gun, as shown by point ils, then informational charges which are positive will be positive with respect to the area of the target surrounding the charge, while, if the charges are negative, they will be of the same potential as the area surrounding the charge. Similarly, the entire area of the storage plate could be originally held at sub-f stantially the Faraday cage potential by the holding gun action. Positive informational charges would then be at the same potential as their surrounding areas, while negative informational charges would be at a considerably lower potential than their surrounding areas.

Referring now to Fig. 3, there is illustrated the action of electrons impinging on the target Il and adjacent electrodes when the gun 21 has its cathode positioned at point de with respect to the Faraday cage. The electron stream, as shown by arrows 53, which is directed towards a positively charged area of the target Il will behave as follows. The major part of the electron stream will pass through screen i9 with a small portion thereof impinging on the wires and causing a relatively small amount of secondary emission, as shown by arrow 54. The electron stream 53 passes through screen lli with a small amount thereof impinging upon screen ld and causing secondary emission which is reattracted to screen I4. The remainder of the beam impinges upon the target i! and causes: secondary emission therefrom which is attracted to screen i4, with the result that the net ow of electrons to target il is Zero.

When an electron stream is directed towards a negatively charged surface, as for example, stream a small part impinges upon screen i9 which causes secondary emission 5? of the same amount as secondary emission 555 caused by stream 53. Stream passes through screen ill with a small portion thereof impinging thereon which causes secondary emission which is reattracted to screen ifi. Stream 55 then approaches target Il, but, since target li is at the potential of the cathode from which the electrons originated, the electrons are decelerated to a zero value, prior to impingement on target Il, and, therefore, no secondary electrons are emitted from target H, and the electrons of stream 55 are attracted back toward screen Eli, as shown, for example, by arrows Stream @3 passes through screen I4 with a small portion impinging thereon, causing secondary emission which is reattracted to screen li, Beam @3 then passes through screen i9 with a portion thereof impinging on screen i3 and causing secondary emission which is attracted back to screen M. The remainder of beam 63 passes through screen l and is attracted to other higher potential electrodes in the device, fer example, the accelerating anode deflection plates or shield members.

Comparing beams 53 and E55, it may be seen that both cause the same initial current in screen E9 by iinpinge-ment thereon and secondary emissions and El therefrom when they first pass through screen iii. Both cause the same current in screen ifi when they first pass through screen id by partial impingement thereon and reattraction of secondary emission thereto. Both cause the same zero current flow onto storage plate i i since the secondary electrons escaping from screen H are exactly equal to the number of electrons from beam 53 impinging thereon. However, substantially all of the secondarily emitted electrons 55 return to screen it, while a large portion of the reected beam $3 passes through screen ifi. The result is a difference in current flow to screen In addition, beam 63 upon passing through screen iii also passes through screen i9 with only a minor portion impinging thereon and causing secondarily emitted electrons 53 which are reattracted to screen I4.

"ince there is a large stray capacitance between screens I9 and I4, as indicated by condenser Si) in Fig. l, the screens I9 and I 4 may be considered as unitary when the scanning frequencies used are relatively high as in the present case. It may be seen that the total currents to the screens I4 and I9 are greater from the beam 53 than from the beam 55 since a portion of the beam 55 returns back to the other electrodes of the tube. Thus, if the cathode 28 of gun 2'! is positioned at a potential d and a particular area having, for example, apositive informational charge thereon is scanned by energization of the oscillator 31, the beam will move from a target area having a positive charge, and hence a relatively high beam current to screens i4 and I9 to the surrounding target area which is at cathode ptential, and, therefore, a relatively lower electron current to screens I4 and I9. Since the beam will be scanned across a positively charged area and into the surrounding area on each side thereof, a current pulse will be produced during every traverse across the positive area, and hence two current pulses will occur per cycle of scanning. Thus, an output signal which is the second harmonic of the scanning frequency may be obtained from screens I9 and ifi. As shown here, screen` ifi feeds a tank circuit which is resonant to twice the scanning frequency, while screen I9 feeds a high impedance choke 22. However, for high frequency purposes, due to the action of stray capacitance G, screens i9 and I@ may be considered as connected together with choke 22 in parallel with the tank circuit 23, 2li and 25. The. value of resistor 25 is such that sufficient band pass may be developed to pass pulses of the second harmonic energy as the gun 23 is turned on and off during positioning over differ-- ent informational charged storage areas. Obviously, when the charge area is at cathode potential, it has the same charge as the surrounding area, and hence no signal output will be obtained. Thus, if an area is scanned and a signal output is obtained, it is known that a positive charge is stored thereon, while if no output signal is obtained, it is known that a negative potential is stored thereon.

Referring now to Fig. 4, there is shown a storage pattern wherein informational charges li! are stored on a plate. The distance between the centers of the charges is made, for example, three times the diameter of the charge areas, thus insuring adequate separation between the charges. During reading, a particular charge is scanned with the motion of the beam moving, for example, two to four times the diameter of the charge area, as shown at 52. Since the output of the screens is a different frequency from the scanning frequency, cross-talk between the scanning frequency beam deflection system and the output, due to stray capacitance coupling therebetween, is eliminated. Further, since there is no change in the charge on the target during reading, the informational charges are preserved.

In addition, since the target electrode and the screens adjacent thereto are spaced a considerable distance from any other electrode structure, capacitive loading thereof may be made very small, thereby permitting very rapid read-out of information stored. For example, individual informational charges have been read in less than a microsecond. Since the cathode of the gun remains constant with respect to the Faraday cage during reading, spurious signals previously en- Cil 8 countered due to variation of this potential are eliminated.

This completes the description of the particular embodiment of the invention described herein. However, many modifications thereof will be apparent to persons skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention. For example, different potentials and electrode structures could be used adjacent the target electrode, and harmonics other than the second harmonic of the scanning frequency could be used for the output signal. A backing plate could be used in place of the screen I5, and the device is not necessarily limited to computer applications. Ti erefore, applicant does not wish to be limited to the particular details of the invention illustrated herein except as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. An information storage device comprising a storage member having a storage surface, means for storing informational charges on said surface, means for cyclically scanning a portion of said surface, and output means tuned to a harmonic of the scanning frequency of said scanning means.

2. An information storage device comprising a storage member having a storage surface, means for storing informational charges on said surface, said storing means comprising an electron beamY forming structure, means for reading said stored charges comprising means for cyclically scanning a portion of said surface, and output means tuned to a harmonic of the scanning frequency of said scanning means.

3. An information storage device comprising a storage member having a storage surface. means for storing informational charges on discrete areas of said surface, and means for reading said stored charges comprising means for cyclically scanning one of said areas whereby an output signal is produced having a frequency harmonically related to the scanning frequency of said scanning means.

4. An information storage device comprising a storage member having a storage surface, charge storing means comprising an electron gun, ele- I mental areas of said surface having, respectively, a plurality of possible equilibrium charge potentials with respect to the cathode of said gun, and means for reading said stored charges comprising means for cyclically scanning a portion of said surface.

5. An information storage device comprising a storage member having a storage surface, elemental areas of said surface having, respectively, a plurality of possible equilibrium charge potentials, .and means for reading said charge potentials comprising means for cyclically scanning `a portion of said surface.

6. An information storage device comprising.

a storage member having a storage surface, elemental areas of said surface having, respectively, a plurality of possible equilibrium charge potentials, means for reading said charge potentials comprising means for cyclically scanning a portion of said surface, and output means tuned to a harmonic of the scanning frequency of said scanning means.

7. An information storage device comprising a. storage member having .a storage surface, elemental areas of said .surface having, respectively, a-plurality of possible equilibrium charge potentials, and means for `reading said charge potentials comprising means for cyclically scanning 'a .scanning frequency of said scanning means.

9. An information storage device comprising a storage member having a storage surface, means for storing informational charges on said surface, means for reading said stored charges comprising means for cyclically scanning a portion of said surface, and output means receptive to a frequency which is the second harmonic of the scanning frequency of said scanning means.

CHARLES F. WEST.

References cited in the fue of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Schlesinger Dec. 26, 1939 Cage Dec. 17, 1940 Riesz et al June 10, 1941 Strutt et al. May 20, 1947 Snyder, Jr Nov. 23, 1948 Law Jan. 25, 1949 Snyder, Jr Mar. 15, 1949 Snyder, Jr. May 24, 1949 Wertz Sept. 6, 1949 Snyder, Jr., et al. Mar. 21, 1950 Jensen et al Apr. 11, 1950 Graham Oct. 31, 1950 Pierce Oct. 31, 1950 Skellett Dec. 26, 1950 Jensen Jan. 23, 1951 Gardner Apr. 3, 1951 Hergenrother Apr. 10, 1951 Thompson June 8, 1952 Ferguson Jan. 22, 1952 

